Four Things I Have Learned from Traveling and Living in Different Countries

1 The Value of Having the Basics

One of the first things I learned from living in a different country was to appreciate having the basic things in life. I had been already quite good with it before I left Japan. But being away from my home country created more limits with what I could do and get. Eventually, I had learned how to live without many things.  As a result, this experience helped me become more flexible.

There are different kinds of circumstances when you are living in another country. One is that you might not know how long you would be staying there. It’s the same as when you are travelling. You need to do things differently than when you are in your home country. One important thing is that it is not a good idea to buy things as you want them when you are travelling.

At first, it felt strange to live without having things I always had in Japan. Some examples are that I used to drive everywhere I went, I always wore a make-up by a Japanese company and I used to eat and buy whatever I wanted. But since I had arrived in Ireland, local Irish people tended to walk everywhere, so I walked everywhere, and I couldn’t get Japanese cosmetics in Ireland, so I stopped wearing a make-up, and I wasn’t sure low long I would be staying in Ireland, so I didn’t buy much and saved all the money that I made from working.

After a while, I realized that living in a simple way made my life a lot easier and happier. That was because I had become physically stronger and healthier by walking all the time, and my skin looked better since I stopped using cosmetics and it was easy to move to new apartments or cities as I didn’t have many belongings. From these experiences, I learned that people could live with only what they really needed without possessing much or buying extra things.

Irish people were very good at doing things without the right tool or means. I acquired this wisdom of Irish people and it was a great lesson for me to watch how they did things.

From these experiences of living with a minimum of what I needed, I started to realize how much all the things I used to have were invaluable and helped me in my daily life. And from then on, I began to really appreciate whatever things I had.


2  About Myself and The World

When I was in Japan, I felt I was always wearing tight clothes that did not fit me all the time. I felt that I was being forced to suppress myself and my own feelings inside me to fit into Japanese society. In Japan, things are often too uniform and there was not much freedom. People were expected to stay within certain limits.

I had always wanted to have some kind of change in my daily life since I was a teenager because I liked the freshness of learning and the self-adjusting process, but I did not know how I could obtain such a thing. I think the reason I was so fascinated by living in other countries was that it gave me the perfect opportunity for the endless learning that I had wanted in my life.

There were two adventures I had living in other countries. One was exploring new places. Another one was exploring myself. It gave me plenty of chances for self-reflection, self-discovery and self-nourishment. It provided me with opportunities not only to learn about myself but also to experience new things and learn how to deal with them, in any shape or form.

What I was craving for from living in other countries was that kind of quality of life. As I was exposed to so many chances to learn something new, it stimulated my mind and I was constantly influenced in many different ways.


3 Good Things about Japanese Culture

At the same time, there was something else that I learned from living in other countries, which I had never expected to learn.

That was learning about Japanese culture. Being away from Japan, I was able to see it from different perspectives. Honestly, I often didn’t understand Japanese culture and society and I had negative opinions about Japanese culture. And probably many other Japanese people do too.

Often, in general, when we are too close to certain things, we can not see the good things about them and forget to appreciate having them. Examples are most commonly our parents, lovers or friends. But it can be things, facts, countries or anything that you rely on. I didn’t know how great a country Japan was until I left Japan and saw it from a distance.

When I lived in western countries, I started to notice many differences between Japanese and western cultures. There were many similarities between the two, but there were many differences, and often they were completely opposite.

As I continued to live away from Japan, I realized there were so many good things about Japan. Personally, I think everyone loves where they were born, but, having travelled and seen many places in the world, I think that Japanese culture is one of the cultures in the world that has an abundance of elements to learn from for the future of our lives and the world.


4  Asking for Help from Other People When I Needed It

While I was living in other countries, I used to try to handle everything by myself like I always did in Japan. I was a very independent girl who did not like someone doing things for me or someone telling me what to do.

I had never consulted my family or friends with any of my own problems. I had always found a solution by myself. So I continued to be that way while I was living in other countries.

But, I often ended up getting involved with the wrong kind of people and got myself in trouble. After it happened a couple of times, I changed my mind and thought it was important to talk to people and seek help if I felt I couldn’t handle the situation.

Although it is ultimately up to me to make a decision, it is still a good idea to have some friends who you trust and ask for opinions.

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